PILIBHIT: A tiger mauled a middle-aged farmer to death on Sunday, triggering an uproar among the villagers against the forest department.
The incident occurred late Sunday evening near Chatipur village, when 45-year-old farmer Ram Prasad was irrigating his sugarcane field, about 500 metres from the Haripur forest, authorities said.
According to police, the tiger, which had been hiding in the nearby bushes, pounced on the farmer and dragged him for nearly 500 metres.
Hearing his screams, farmers working in the nearby fields rushed to the spot, but Ram Prasad was already fatally injured, suffering wounds on his neck, back, and abdomen, officials said.
Sehramau North Station House Officer Sanjay Kumar Singh said his body was sent for post-mortem.
Villagers staged a protest against the forest department for failing to control the increasing tiger attacks in the region.
Haripur Range Forest Officer Shaheer Ahmad confirmed that the incident occurred in the Khutar range and said a team had been dispatched to the spot to investigate.
This was the second fatal tiger attack in the area in the last four days.
On May 14, a 50-year-old farmer, Hansraj, was killed near Najirganj village.
His partially eaten body was found in a field.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate Ajit Pratap Singh and Circle Officer Pragati Chauhan visited the scene and persuaded the villagers not to block the Pilibhit-Puranpur highway.
Divisional Forest Officer of Social Forestry, Bharat Kumar, said that a team has been deployed to track the tiger and efforts are underway to capture it.
Local villagers alleged that there is a complete breakdown of forest management in the region, with tigers frequently straying into agricultural fields and human settlements.
"Despite repeated incidents, no concrete action has been taken by the forest department. The big cats roam freely near our homes," a villager said.
The villages of Haripur Kishanpur, Najirganj, and Chatipur, all located along the open borders between Pilibhit Tiger Reserve and the Khutar range, have become vulnerable due to their proximity to the forest.
According to forest officials, there are over 70 tigers in the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve.